BELLEVILLE – A forensics lab has confirmed with “85 percent” certainty that the voice heard on a phone message using a racial slur is that of Belleville councilwoman and mayoral candidate Marie Strumolo Burke.

In the recording, which was posted to YouTube and has been the subject of local discussion for weeks, a woman’s voice that is allegedly Burke’s can be heard yelling in the background of a voicemail left on Councilman Kevin Kennedy’s answering machine.

“This is terrible. This is terrible. This is gonna be a (expletive) (N-word) town,” the woman says near the end of the 90-second message.

The former head of the town’s planning board was discussing proposed changes to the town’s tax rates before Burke’s alleged comments on the recording, said Mayor Raymond Kimble, who is running against Burke in the June mayoral election. Burke, a longtime Belleville resident and councilwoman, has repeatedly denied the allegations. In an email to The Star-Ledger, she accused Kimble of engaging in dirty campaign tactics.

The answering machine was turned over to Primeau Forensics Lab in Michigan last week, said Edward Primeau, the lab’s director. He said he was “85 percent” sure the voice on the tape was Burke’s after comparing the recording to public comments she made at recent town council meetings. Primeau said Burke’s accents and manner of speaking at council meetings was identical to those of the voice on the recording. Primeau said he could only rule the voices were “100 percent” identical if Burke were to read the statements made on the phone call aloud, so he could compare them.

“It’s sad to hear that, in the 21st century, in our state, that we have elected officials who have that type of attitude,” said Thomas Puryear, president of the Maplewood-Orange chapter of the NAACP, which represents 11 municipalities. “It lets us know that racism is alive, and unfortunately doing very well, in our state and in our nation.”

What’s sadder is that this gentleman, Thomas Puryear, doesn’t understand that the entire Democrat party is racist and working hard to enslave minorities in safety net programs like welfare and give them mediocre education by pushing common core into the public system. Watch this story be hidden away quickly because no one is suppose to know that Dems are really racists.